


No Longer Waiting

by Archer_Willows



Series: Waiting In The Wings [4]
Category: X-Men (Movieverse)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Battle, Continuation, Death, F/M, Mesopotamian Mythology Inspired, More tags to be added, Multichapter, Mutants, Post-X-Men: Apocalypse (2016), Pre-X-Men: Dark Phoenix (2019), Probably won't finish this, Slow Burn, Some angst, Violence, needs to be more psylocke fics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-22
Packaged: 2021-03-24 01:01:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30064260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Archer_Willows/pseuds/Archer_Willows
Summary: A mysterious appearance in Xavier's school calls forth a massive prophecy that will determine the fate of the universe, calling upon old and new faces to wage the war no one else can.(Read my three "Waiting In The Wings" one shots before reading or you won't have a fucking clue what's going on)
Relationships: Elizabeth Braddock/OMC, Elizabeth Braddock/Original Male Character(s), Hank McCoy/Raven | Mystique, Jean Grey/Scott Summers, Psylocke/OMC, Psylocke/Original Male Character(s)
Series: Waiting In The Wings [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2207082





	1. Kurnugi

**Elizabeth Braddock.** Age: 24. Cause of death: Exsanguination from blood loss. Survived by known living relatives.

That was it. That was all the eulogy said. Nothing more. Not how she truly died. Not what she did. Not even any research on her family.

I had barely met the woman. She had been an enemy at first, but then she turned her sword on Apocalypse. She had saved us all. 

And then we’d watched as Apocalypse murdered her. We’d seen her die, her last wish being that we didn’t let it be for nothing. 

She deserved more than a small bio about her name in 10 point font in the back of a newspaper.

As for me, I’m nobody. I’m just a regular mutant. 22 years old, my only trait worth noting being my ability to conduct and create fire and lightning. No one knew why I had two powers, or why they were so similar. They also seemed so...common. Uninteresting. Unhelpful. After all, there was already a mutant who could control weather at the school. Way more powerful than I am.

I had arrived at the school when I was 17. Apocalypse had been a year later. 4 years had passed. 

Everyone still had trauma from that year. Everything that could have gone wrong did. But in the end, we’d defeated the bad guy. We’d won. 

And those we’d lost didn’t even know it. They lay buried 6 feet under the ground. 

And no one even cared. The world saw them as expendable, just nobodies who needed a brief death message and nothing else. 

We knew different. We needed change. 

All night I thought of the pain in her eyes. The blankness of them after she died. 

All for  _ this. _

It wasn’t right. It never would be…

* * *

Elizabeth awoke peacefully in her bed. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. Years she’d gotten used to her home in Kurnugi, the afterlife. It was paradise, yes. She had everything she wanted or needed. There was no reason to even think about leaving. The afterlife was better than her real life.

But just like her actual life, she was completely alone. 

She’d allowed herself to believe she might finally leave that all behind when she’d sided with the mutants.

But she’d died immediately afterwards.

She’d also longed to know what had happened. Four years she’d been here, she’d never found out whether the mutants had won, or if her death had meant nothing. Ignorance was killing her. Ironic.

She didn’t even think it was possible to leave Kurnugi. As the old man had once said, “Do you know anyone who’s ever come back?”

He’d meant it in that no one would want to leave. But was he right? Could you leave if you really wanted to? What if the train came back? If anything you wished for came true here, could you wish to leave? Even for a moment? 

What had woken her up anyway? Elizabeth noticed it was nighttime, and she always wanted to sleep till morning. Something had woken her up.

What that was became clear.

The window went blindingly bright. She shielded her eyes. 

Elizabeth ran out of her cabin and stared at the source of the light.

A chariot, pulled by skeletal horses. An old, tall woman held the reins. She didn’t look much, but Elizabeth could tell she was not one to be messsd with. She bowed instinctively.

“Someone has good manners,” she said, “I would say ‘Bow before the Queen of Death’ but it seems you already have.”

This was the Queen of Kurnugi? What was she here for?

“You are being called for,” Erishkigal announced. That was her name. Elizabeth could feel it. “By whom, Your Majesty?” Elizabeth inquired.

Erishkigal tilted her head as if thinking. “You are needed in the mortal world,” she scoffed, clearly unhappy to let someone out of her domain, “You wish to see if you can leave Kurnugi? Now is your chance, Braddock.”

Shocked, Elizabeth stepped on the chariot.

She was going back.

* * *

I woke bright and early the next day. The school was still asleep. Best not to wake the kids. 

Something drew me out of bed. Quietly, I opened the door. Peeking down the hallways, I saw nothing. 

So why did I feel so drawn, as if there was someone here?

I carefully went down to the entrance of the mansion. Preparing for a fight, I opened the door.

The source of the disturbance was a large chariot. Two women rode on it, staring down at me. The skeletal horses neighed skeptically at me. 

The first woman was older, ancient but powerful. I had a weird feeling about her. The other stepped off the chariot. I couldn’t see her face in the dark.

The older woman studied me. Then her chariot and her disappeared. 

I blinked. There was no chariot. Only the younger woman stood before me. I could not see her. 

“Who’s there?” I asked her, “This is a school. I’m not afraid to defend it.” I summoned a ball of fire in my hand.

She stopped moving. The flames illuminated her face. 

The first thing I noticed were the startlingly emeral green eyes. She had long raven black hair, highlighted with purple. 

That in itself reminded me of something. I wasn’t sure yet. I made the ball a little brighter. 

My jaw dropped.

Her face, defined but graceful, proud but gentle, passionate yet passive, stern yet kind, intense but beautiful, was licked by the orange light of the fire, a living reminder of failure. I had barely even seen her face 4 years ago. But I knew it was her, with total certainty.

I had seen crazy things before.

But her—she was new.

She was dead. Definitely, completely dead.

Yet here she stood, right before me. 

I studied her close. She was confused. She didn’t know what she was supposed to do.

“Come with me,” I told her, “The professor needs to meet you.”

She shrugged, still studying me like a rat in a lab. “Okay,” she said slowly, “Lead the way.” 

I started to lead her inside.

“Wait,” I stopped. She immediately stopped moving and looked at me. 

“What?” she whispered.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

She raised her eyebrows. “Elizabeth,” she finally said.

“Griffon,” I replied. “Now let’s get you to Professor Xavier. Then we’ll figure out what the hell is going on here.”   
  
  



	2. The Prophecy

**“My name is Elizabeth Braddock,”** She told the professor. “I am a mutant known as Psylocke. I fought with and against En Sabah Nur four years ago.”

Professor Xavier sat in his chair, studying her. “This is all very good to know, Ms. Braddock,” another mutant replied, “but I think what we keep coming back to, and you have been avoiding, is-”

“I’m well aware of what you’re about to ask, Mr. McCoy. My state of being has been questioned by many, including myself in past years. Yes, I died by Nur’s hand. That is true. I have been dead for four years. That is also true. But as you see me now, my current form, is both my corpse and my living body. I am dead  _ and  _ alive, Mr. McCoy. If that is confusing to you, and I can understand that, this may help.

“I come from Kurnugi. The afterlife. Your soul is the same, and so is your mind. Your body is identical. But my real body is somewhere in Egypt. I think. 

“So no, I’m not exactly alive. But I’m in the world of the living, something no one has ever done before. Even I don’t know the extent of it.”

Charles sat in silence for a long time before speaking. “So you mean to tell us, Mrs. Braddock, that not only is there an afterlife, but that you alone escaped?”

Elizabeth frowned. “I did not escape. I was escorted by the Queen of Kurnugi herself. She said I was ‘needed in the mortal world.’ I do not know what for. All I know is I got a chance to find some answers.”

“Answers?” I asked. “What kind of answers?”

Elizabeth lowered her glance at me. “The ones that fulfil questions.” She turned back to Xavier. “I want to know what happened after I died. What happened with Apocalypse? I need to know if my death meant something.”

Xavier exhaled. “We killed him, in the end. It was not without its…costs, however. You weren’t the only one to fall. No offense to you, of course.”

“None taken,” Elizabeth said a little too quickly. Obviously, she did take offense.

“Well then, Ms. Braddock, I can’t say I know what to make of you. You could be a powerful friend, or a dangerous enemy. I do not pass judgement now. I do not judge based on past decisions, but rather what they do now. You have a choice to make, Ms. Braddock. You’ve been brought out of the land of the dead. It’s up to you how to choose to change the world.”

Why did that man always have to make a speech in everything? Sure, he was inspiring, but after a while it got a little infuriating. The dude did not understand “few word good, lot word bad.”

Elizabeth stood up. I noticed for the first time she wasn’t wearing traditional clothes. She was wearing a robe, but it shimmered and moved like clouds. Billions of stars exploded in slow motion over its folds.

The underworld had some nice threads. 

Elizabeth spoke again, shaking me out of my trance. “What I want to know is why I was brought here. What could be so important Erishkigal had to send someone who was already dead? Especially me. It doesn’t make sense.”

“I can’t pretend to know the ways of the world, Ms. Braddock,” Xavier responded, “the world has its own rules that it follows. It pulls us with it, not knowing where we are going.”

“The best we can do is hold on,” Elizabeth finished, “And prepare for the wonders of the other side, worrying not about what lay there.”

It was with that sentence I realized that she had changed over her time being dead. I hadn’t known her before, but I could tell back then by what little I knew about her who she was. She was proud and independent. She worried about herself and her image. She wasn’t afraid to throw others under the bus to preserve herself. She wasn’t a horrible person, but she wasn’t selfless or caring. She also was arrogant, attacking before thinking. 

But now, Elizabeth was completely different.

She was still proud and independent. She was still worried about herself. She still had that look in her eyes.

But the rest was completely different. She had come to terms with limitations of the body. Of the mind, and of the spirit. She spoke kinder, more careful about how her word affected her audience. She allowed herself to think about the well-being of others. She wouldn’t throw someone in harm’s way to save herself. 

And most of all, she wasn’t reckless. She had wit. She wouldn’t blindly charge an enemy when they have no chance of winning. She’d think of a strategy.

I liked that. 

Charles nodded. “You speak wisely, Ms. Braddock.”

Elizabeth shrugged, a snippet of a smile tugging at her mouth. “Always the tone of surprise.”

Xavier nodded again. He really had a bidding issue. “Well then, Ms. Braddock, I can say that I’m intrigued by your presence. I hope that-”

He was interrupted by an earcurdling wind blasting through the room.

“Get down!” Hank yelled. No one heard him, but they weren’t stupid. They hit the dirt, or rather the hard floor, just as the wind blew through the windows, shattering them to dust. Miraculously, none of it hit them. 

The room went dark. It wasn’t a wind. It was some sort of gaseous energy, tearing through the walls like they were made of paper. The green force stopped in the middle of the room. 

It solidified into a figure, humanoid but with no features. Made of partially solid, partially gas energy, the figure opened its mouth. A rasping voice sounded out:

_ When life breaks over the chasm of death, _

_ All who remain face the warlord’s red breath, _

_ Through fire and lightning, the payment is due, _

_ For all mutant life shall then be pursued. _

_ The world will be lost at the bestial Arch, _

_ unless the tomb is opened on the Ides of March. _

With that, the figure, and the energy, dissipated. The room returned to light, leaving no sign of disturbance except the shattered glass.

We all slowly stood up, standing in stunned silence. Until…

“What the  _ hell  _ just happened?” I was the first to speak. Professor Xavier locked eyes with Hank. They nodded at each other in mutual understanding.

“It seems,” Hank explained, breathing heavily, “we have just been issued a prophecy.”

“A prophecy? Those aren’t real.”

Xavier shook his head. “There hasn’t been one for millennia. This proves their existence. Prophecies are real, and we’ve just been given one.”

Elizabeth spoke, surprisingly normally for someone who had just seen the future being foretold. “Mutant life being pursued? The payment being due? The world being lost? Red breath? It didn’t sound good.”

“No it did not, Ms. Braddock.”

I racked my brain of the encounter. “Do you know about this warlord? The bestial arch? Or this tomb?”

“Haven’t a clue,” Charles said, “I have a theory about where we might find answers, though.” Seeing my confused face, he explained, “The Library of Moa Fa-Sux. It’s been lost for centuries, but we have an idea where it is. It’s said to house all the knowledge the world has lost.”

“Handy,” Elizabeth replied.

“Still, we don’t have long,” I said, “We have to find where this tomb is, open it, and stop the world ending, and possibly stop a warlord from killing us all, all by the Ides of March. That’s only 5 days away.”

“March 15th…” Charles muttered. “Then we’d best hurry.”

Hank spoke again first. “Griffon should go.”

I was stunned. “What? That doesn’t make any sense? I’ve barely been in action. I haven’t got an insane mutant powerset, either. I’ve just got…” I stopped.

“Fire and lightning,” Hank finished.

“Griffon, you’re more than ready for this,” Charles said, “You’ve been here for half a decade. You rise up and take leadership when it’s required. You’re brave and inspiring. And you  _ do  _ have power. You just haven’t learned how to use it yet.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but decided against it.

“You won’t be going alone, however.”

I sighed in relief. Small comfort.

“This requires a small, elite team. Small enough to be untraceable, but big enough to efficiently do this. I’m thinking of a group of three.”

He turned to Elizabeth. “I know you don’t have to accept this, but I think this is why you were brought back. Your chance to save the world, and make peace with your doubts. It’s your choice, but I think you should go.”

Elizabeth thought for a moment. “I’m in,” she said eventually.

Why did I feel excited and disappointed at the same time?

I shrugged. “I guess I could deal with it.”

“I’ll go too,” Hank said, “I’ve always wanted to visit Fa-Sux’s library.”

“It’s settled, then,” Xavier finished, “I’ll stay with the students. If this prophecy is true, then they need to be ready.”

“Be careful, professor.”

“Don’t worry, Hank. Ms. Braddock, I wish you peace of mind.

“And Griffon… be true to yourself.”


	3. The Covenant

**Our little group** met at the entrance to the property, by the road leading to the school. We looked like hoodlums. Three random people who all looked like they didn’t belong together. I was barely an adult, could pass for a teenager. Elizabeth could’ve been taken as a gang leader, with her proud expression and harsh eyes. 

Hank looked like he was the hostage. The regular, responsible kid who got mixed up in bad things and was too far in to back out.

At least we got to change our clothes.

I just wore sweatpants and a hoodie. Old trainers and shabby socks were donned on my feet. Hey, I couldn’t complain.

Elizabeth had on jeans and a white t-shirt, and a red denim jacket that looked straight out of an Aerith cosplayer’s wardrobe. I mean, it was literally identical to the remake version. No idea why there was one of those in the school, but I digress.  **(Author’s Note: Final Fantasy VII came out at least 10 years after Apocalypse. But because I wanted this reference, here is where I’m going to say that it’s still the same time period. The AU here is that technology is like 40 years ahead when this takes place. Therefore, everything that exists now existed back then, like a major technology boom. Nothing actually changed during Apocalypse except for the stuff that took place in the three part prologue to this.)**

Her raven-black hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She looked weird, like a regular person. I’d never thought she could look normal, with what the purple highlights and distaste of humans. Somehow, she was perfectly natural.

Hank was just wearing a polo shirt and jeans. Slightly more formal than me, but that’s just who he was. 

We all stood together in awkward silence. Elizabeth glared at me, as if daring me to comment. I thought that was a little unfair. 

I carefully broke the silence. “Soooo, this library? Where exactly is it?” I asked.

“No one knows for sure,” Hank replied.

My mouth dropped. We were being sent a quest to find something that is  _ somewhere  _ on the planet. 

Fantastic. With luck, we’d find it 10 years after the world ended next week.

“But,” Hank continued, “We’ve got leads. We’ve been able to pinpoint two possible locations.”

“Let me guess,” I said without enthusiasm, “One probably holds the library, the other will kill us all.”

“Not necessarily. One probably holds the library. The other will probably lead to nothing and we’ll die stranded of thirst.”

Not exactly ideal. Well, we had to save the world somehow. “Well then let’s get to it,” Elizabeth said. “Where’s the first location?”

“Abu Simbel,” Hank said as if it were a casual drive to a Chick-Fil-A.

I stared dumbfounded. “We have to go to  _ Egypt?  _ How on earth are we supposed to get there and back in time? We’d be losing almost two days on that alone!”

“Come with me,” Hank said without acknowledging me.

He walked over to the mansion again, and led us to the basement.

“What the hell was the point of going to the road if we were just going to come back here?” I grumbled.

Elizabeth aimed a kick at my leg. “What?” I asked, “Just saying.”

She rolled her eyes.

Oh yeah, this trip was going to be fun.

I didn’t notice we’d stopped until I almost ran into Hank. I stumbled and looked around. 

“Whoa,” I breathed, staring at the jet directly under the basketball court.

“ _ This  _ is how we’re going to get to Abu Simbel,” Hank said. “It’s faster than any commercial plane. We should get there in no time.”

——————

The jet was spacious. I had no experience with flying. Hank was the pilot. 

Elizabeth and I sat awkwardly in the back.

Still annoyed at her for all the earlier stuff, I didn’t speak. She seemed perfectly fine with that.

After about half an hour, the silence got unbearable. Carefully, I asked, “Forgive me, but I want to know. What was it like?”

She didn’t speak for a whole minute. Finally, she turned to be. Her emerald eyes pierced into me. There was no friendliness in her glare as she responded, “Dying?” She seemed to question whether she should speak or not. “It was horrible, at first. Every ounce of my body was on fire. At least that’s what it seemed.”

“You said, ‘at first.’ What does that mean?”

“After the pain, after my life faded, it was… peaceful. It wasn’t until after I had died that the calm started. And then… I was in paradise. There was no pain, no suffering, there was only peace. It was the afterlife.”

Now that she had started she couldn’t seem to stop.

I pressed my luck. “If the afterlife was so great, then why did you leave?”

She glared. I thought she was going to hit me, but instead she sighed. “I don’t know,” she replied, “I honestly don’t. Maybe I wanted to know what had happened after I left. Maybe I wanted to see how the world changed. Maybe I thought… maybe I thought that things were better. There would be no more war. No more torture. No more… evil.”

I shook my head sadly. “But there’s still persecution. Hate speech. War.”

She nodded. “Humans never change.”

A little of her old human distaste returned. I couldn’t say I blamed her. Still, humans weren’t all bad.

After that, we stopped talking. I’m not sure she wanted to answer me anymore. And I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear her answers.

I stared at the window as we flew over the ocean.

I contemplated what she had said. The afterlife. Coming back. No more war. No more hate.

She thought it was possible. 

I didn’t feel so sure. 

Humans and mutants alike would always be filled with hate. Unreasonable, terrible hate, just because others were different.

I thought about how she wrote off humans. From what I heard, she had always thought of humans like that.

But she had also acted like they could change. 

Her hatred of humans wasn’t beyond reason. If she could think humans could change, then maybe that was a good thing.

Still, Elizabeth was shrouded in mystery. I had no idea what she wanted, or what she needed, or what waited for her in Abu Simbel.

I turned my head to look at her. She sat in boredom, staring out the window. Her emerald gaze was fixed on nothing. 

She was filled with pain and regret. I could tell that just looking in her eyes. Whatever facade she put up, there was a long history in there. 

And she refused to let it out. She closed herself off.

I made a promise, in spite of myself.

_ I  _ will  _ figure her out,  _ I told myself,  _ and when I do, I’ll make sure I’m there for her when she needs it.  _

It was my promise, for a woman I barely knew. One who seemed to distaste me. One who was dead.

It was my covenant. I had no idea why I made it. But I was going to stick to it.


End file.
